When Milwaukee begins its 2018 season next week in San Diego, it will be Chase Anderson setting the tone as the Brewers’ Opening Day starter.

It’s an honor well-deserved for the 30-year-old Wichita Falls native, who was rewarded for a breakout 2017 season with a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $11.75 million. Two team options could max the contract out at more than $30 million.

It also shows how much Anderson has progressed in 12 months. At this time a year ago, the former Rider standout was coming off the toughest of his three MLB seasons and was Milwaukee’s No. 4 starter.

Now he’s the Brewers’ unquestioned ace and a key player on an NL Central team that has playoff aspirations after last year’s close call.

What was behind Anderson’s mini-transformation? You can point to three different things:

Diversified pitches

Anderson has often given credit to Brewers pitching coach Derek Johnson, who helped him develop a cutter and rework the grip on his curveball.

Anderson was primarily a fastball and changeup pitcher in his first three seasons at the MLB level. In fact, Anderson leaned on those two pitches 60 percent of the time during his first season with Milwaukee in 2016 when he went 9-11 with a 4.39 ERA.

Developing a dependable cutter and changing the grip he’d used on his curveball for the past two decades were crucial to his development under Johnson.

“I think the biggest thing was having confidence and having a cutter and a curveball to go along with a fastball and a changeup and pitching them to both sides of the plate,” Anderson said while spending time in Wichita Falls two months ago. “Looking at analytics and pitching up in the zone a little more.”

According to Fangraphs.com, Anderson threw his changeup one-third less than he had in 2016 and nearly tripled his frequency of the cutter, a pitch he used 13 percent of the time in 2017.

A slight decrease in his fastball frequency (four percent) was balanced by the same percentage spike of his curveball. His fastball was also more effective because on a slight increase in velocity.

“My changeup is my best pitch so getting that better and challenging me to work on the cutter and a different grip on my curveball. Challenging me to throw those in a game,” Anderson said. “I’ve thrown a curveball the same way since I was 10 years old and I had to change my grip last year. It’s tough to figure that all out, and I finally did. I was reaping the benefits of that and it’s all because of (Johnson) challenging me with that new grip and throwing the cutter, having four pitches instead of just two."

Missing bats

Anderson’s numbers across the board were improved as he struck out more batters per nine innings (8.47) than ever before and allowed only 14 home runs, half as many as the previous season.

But quite simply, Anderson’s pitches missed bats more than in his first three seasons. And when hitters did make contact, it wasn’t always great contact.

Of the 90 MLB pitchers who threw at least 140 innings in 2017, only the Royals’ Danny Duffy had a homer/fly ball percentage lower than Anderson’s 8.6 percent.

Opposing hitters only batted .265 against Anderson in balls put in play, 12th lowest among the 90 starters. While it may not be possible for those percentages to decrease again in 2018, it’s proof that Anderson’s ability to keep hitters guessing prevented them from getting solid contact off the righthander.

“It’s like going into battle with one weapon or going into battle with four weapons,” Anderson said. “You go out there with more confidence on the mound and compete at a higher level on a more consistent basis.”

Quality start

Making his Brewers debut in 2016, Anderson allowed zero earned runs in his first two starts, but was hit hard his next four outings, finishing April with a 1-3 record and 5.55 ERA.

Needing confidence to accompany his new repertoire last spring, Anderson got off to the best start of his MLB career.

Anderson’s first four outings were quality ones and he finished April with a 2-0 record and 2.10 ERA in 30 innings.

“I forget who said it – might have been (former MLB pitching coach) Dave Duncan – If you have a heck of an April, it’s going to set you up for a really good September and October,” Anderson said. “If you get off to a good start, you try to continue to push through that.”

Anderson certainly finished 2017 strong after returning from the disabled list in late August. He won four of his final five starts with a 1.52 ERA and 0.91 WHIP as the Brewers nearly snagged a playoff berth.

After last year’s breakout campaign, Anderson knows more is expected of him as Milwaukee’s ace in 2018. His goal is to build off last year’s success.

“That’s just baseball. When you put up a good year, people want you to do that every year and I understand that,” Anderson said. “As a fan, they want you to continue to get better and that’s my goal, too.

“I want to continue to get better. I won 12 games last year, I want to win 15-20 this year. I want to do that for a long time, as long as my body is letting me do that.”

Chase Anderson developed four pitches last season, one of the keys to his 2017 breakout campaign.(Photo: Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports)